Pune: Man loses Rs 6.82 lakh in insurance fraud

PUNE: A 36-year-old resident of Chinchwad was duped of Rs 6.82 lakh by unidentified callers who posed as officials of an insurance company.
The callers took money from the complainant on the pretext of returning maturity benefits of the latter’s policy which had lapsed.
“Believing unknown person instead of going to the insurance company office for confirmation cost the complainant dearly,” Vishwajeet Khule inspector of the Chinchwad police told TOI.
The incident occurred between May 2018 and January this year. The man on Tuesday approached the Chinchwad police and lodged an FIR. The police have registered the offence under sections 417 (punishment for cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and the relevant sections of the Information and Technology Act.
The complainant, a resident of Walhekarwadi in Chinchwad, had an insurance policy. He received a call in May last year. The caller introduced himself as an officer from the company.
“He told the complainant that the latter’s insurance policy had been lapsed. Despite of the lapse, the caller assured the complainant that he would help him in getting maturity benefits of his policy,” Khule said.
Khule said that the caller then told the complainant to transfer some amount online for the verification of the documents, then demanded for processing fees and payment of tax.
“The complainant went on transferring the amounts as and when the suspect had demanded. Between May last year and January, he transferred Rs 6.82 lakh on the different bank account numbers given to him,” Khule said.
The complainant became suspicious when the insurance company ‘officer’ stopped receiving his calls. At last when he contacted the insurance company, the complainant realised that he had been duped. “Prima facie probe revealed that the bank accounts where the money was transferred are in other states. Our probe is on,” Khule said.